


Patient Zero

by timeless_alice



Series: Horror Meme - 2018 [2]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Body Horror, Gen, Vomiting, Zombification
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 17:40:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16269140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timeless_alice/pseuds/timeless_alice
Summary: Spoilers for Lost Light issue 18 and beyondThe sparkeater plague takes the Lost Light





	Patient Zero

Perceptor felt strange. Beyond the ever present ache from his damaged spark, there was a faint buzz in his chest; erratic jolts jumping from circuit to circuit, like there was too much energy trapped there while his fingers grew numb. He flexed his hand with a frown, joints in his knuckles resisting and grinding together, and ran a quick diagnostic.

Other than the typical reminder of his spark and eye, there was nothing.

A nagging corner of his mind wondered if this was an advancement of his condition. As the scratches in his spark worsened, pieces of it chipping away little by little over time, the harder it became for his body to be powered. But surely it wouldn’t happen all at once like this – his spark was poorly, but it wasn’t in as bad a shape as Thunderclash’s was. He would have to ask Hoist, even if his knowledge on chronic spark injury was limited, seeing as Velocity was no longer on board.

As he dwelled on his condition, he became aware of a faint pressure against his plating along his spinal strut. All the circuits and delicate inner workings of his frame coiling taut and pressing against his back, as if they wished to be freed. But it was a mild sensation, enough so that he was able to tuck it away with little acknowledgement.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, the gears in his neck audibly grinding in a way that spelled unnatural. He made to move towards the door of his lab, forcing his knees to bend to avoid a dramatic limp, which proved difficult. By the time he reached the hall, the buzzing had spread even further and the pressure had taken residency in his head. It settled against his bad eye worst of all, what could have been fluid seeping into the cracks left from damaged circuitry to push against what remained. This could not be tucked away, as it had been just moments before.

“Strange” was perhaps the wrong word for it. “Wrong” was closer in proximity. Another diagnostic run brought up nothing new, and Perceptor allowed himself to sag against the door frame. He quietly tried to reassure himself that he must’ve just caught something – his systems were not the best at fighting against any kind of viruses, compromised sparks could cause that – while his cooling fans stuttered.

“Hey, Percy!” Blaster’s voice sounded from down the hall. Perceptor snapped to attention, pushing himself upright, fighting against the weakness in his knees as Blaster approached with a few hurried paces. The vision in his right eye sputtered and glitched, just for a moment sending Blaster into a mess of visual stimulus that buried a dagger into Perceptor’s processor, but he forced himself not to react. Instead, he gave a small, reserved smile as he stopped before him.

“I’ve been looking for you. I wanted to ask-” He cut himself off, eyes narrowing as he leaned forward. Perceptor did not move, despite the urge to step back. Part out of pride, part out of a certainty that he would not be able to remain upright if he did.

“Good god, you look awful. Are you feeling all right?”

With a well trained wave of his hand, which was sluggish and heavy and fought against every moment of it, Perceptor said, “Yes, I’m fine.” He reached up and removed his crosshair to rub at the eye underneath, where dead pixels had begun to appear. He considered, briefly, turning it off and just going forward with one eye. But there was something  _off_ about that vision too, though he couldn’t quite place a finger on it. Perhaps it was the filter distorting, or perhaps the lighting had just changed.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” he asked, snapping the crosshair back into place.

“It’s about your communications request. I-” At that point, Perceptor lost his balance. The force of willpower keeping him upright had given way to complete failure in his legs, and though he stumbled and tried to regain his footing, he couldn’t. Blaster caught him under the arms before he could crash gracelessly to the floor. “Okay, no, you’re definitely not fine. Should I get Hoist?”

“No,” he mumbled. Then, with a stronger, more forceful voice, he said, “No. I must’ve caught something, but I’ll be fine.” He tried to push himself away and upright, but only succeeded in losing Blaster’s support and collapsing to his hands and knees.

He was aware of Blaster crouching low beside him, preparing to move him either back to standing or to a sitting position, but Perceptor shook his head. Something felt wrong in his throat, like mechanizations were working to reject whatever energon sat in his tanks.

“I think there’s something going around,” Blaster said. “I heard Bluestreak complaining about feeling weird earlier. And honestly I’m not feeling so great either.”

Before he could respond, something in Perceptor’s chest contracted. A fiercely sudden tightness that made him cry out and almost drop to his elbows. His back arched to try to alleviate mounting pressure, and he could have sworn there was an audible  _crack_ of his plating splitting open.  The pain – or maybe the illness, or some combination of both – made him throw up, energon and what looked to be  _acid_. And it  _burned,_ corroding his throat and mouth in an agony that joined the growing cacophony so great that that he needed to concentrate to take in anything other than pain.

“I’m going to get Hoist,” Blaster said. Or at least, that’s what it sounded like, through the white noise and distortion.

Though his vision continued to stutter and was more dizzying than anything else, Perceptor watched Blaster move down the hall for a few moments, before he too collapsed to his knees. His arms wrapped around his chest, movements jerking without any sense of fluid motion (though Perceptor could not tell if it was due to his own vision failing or anything else). He shuddered, and it looked for all the world like some black tendril was snaking its way out of the seams at his joints.

But then, before he could even determine if that was real or a hallucination, all his attention was snapped back to himself. To the feeling of something  _moving_ inside of him. Slithering lines of heat pulsing through him, pressing against his interiors, looking for a weak spot to break through. They were in his throat making their way towards his mouth and wrapped around his joints and seemed to be working up along his spine to find his brain. By then, he was screaming, wanting whatever was inside him to be  _out_ but he couldn’t do anything.

He collapsed onto his side, unable to do anything as his senses and facilities were robbed from him. There was nothing left, just pain and fear and an acute awareness that he was going to die.

***

Elsewhere, tucked away from the rest of the ship in an airtight room, Getaway watched as the crew succumbed to Scorponok’s sparkeater virus. Various security monitors, showing them scream and vomit and convulse as their frames twisted into something monstrous. Black tendrils pushing through seams and mouths and straight through plating, dripping with acidic fluid that burned away all the metal it touched. A few had made it to the medical bay, but there was nothing that could be done. They all turned sooner or later.

Before he could give into his second thoughts and doubts and guilt, Getaway turned the monitors off.

**Author's Note:**

> day two of horror meme's prompts- outbreak!
> 
> makes use of my HC that perceptor has chronic spark pain due to when he was shot through the chest during spotlight drift
> 
> ANYWAY!! im timelessmulder on tumblr :D


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